William Solaire is Turned
William Solaire is turned into a Vampire in France as part of an attack from a roaming Clan. His Maker is a cruel man who turns him in a bid to bolster his Clan's numbers. He subjects William to repeated bouts of Invocation, forcing him to commit horrible acts in his Maker's name. Later that next year, William manages to kill his Maker and strikes out on his own, vowing to never become a Maker himself.
Magical Affairs in North America
Magical affairs in North America have been primarily managed by an initially self-appointed group calling themselves the Ruling Council, seeking to provide large-scale resources and controls to the empowered population of the area. In an effort to legitimatize themselves and become a more thorough infrastructure, the Ruling Council becomes an elected body, and establishes a handful of departments below it to manage empowered needs. One of these departments, the one primarily focused on the creation of standardized magical edicts, practices, codes of conduct, and enforcement of covert, is named the Department of Uniform Magical Practices.
Dahlia Cornerstone
Dahlia, California is appointed as the eighth Cornerstone City, representing the "Pacific Division" of the United States.
Council Reform
Aggressive reform efforts against the Ruling Council's unchecked oversight of empowered affairs results in severe restructuring of the magical government. The majority of the departments are culled and the Ruling Council is changed to be a cameral adjunct rather than the executive body of empowered affairs. That position is instead granted to the Department of Uniform Magical Practices, which is drastically expanded to become the umbrella infrastructure to which the Council and other bodies answer, effectively superseding its progenitor. Despite its wildly expanded breadth, its original name is kept in place. Explanations for this odd decision vary wildly to this day.
Ruling Council D[a]emons
D[a]emons are finally given seats on the Ruling Council amid ongoing protests. This gesture from the Department is considered to be largely performative, given the Council's limited executive power, and instead is used as justification for increased oversight from the Department over D[a]emonic affairs now that they have been granted political representation.
Alexis Turns
Alexis Getty is turned into a Vampire by William Solaire, becoming his first Progeny. She had suffered mortal injuries at the hands of a rogue Vampire that William had been attempting to hunt down after repeated transgressions by them into his territory. The rogue Vampire attacked Alexis in a bid to restore his energies, drained as he was from the hunt. William ended him but was too late to save Alexis by conventional means. He offered to turn her, and she accepted. She became a very difficult Progeny to steward, and William again vowed to never again become a Maker, particularly to someone he knew so little about before turning. He forms Solaire Property Management and continues his real estate investments.
